Falling Leaves
by Khell
Summary: Halloween 1984. Two agents, one hotel room - and not what you're thinking now. ;) Happy Halloween!


**Falling Leaves**

A beautiful autumn day, without any doubt. Clean, crisp air. Cloudless baby-blue skies. The sunshine brought out the colours of the leaves, hues of red and yellow and golden-brown, spotted with occasional late green.

Just another day, she told herself and leaned against the windowframe.

A gust of wind danced through the branches right before the window, tore loose some leaves. They fluttered in the breeze like butterflies, glided to the ground, a few last twitches and they didn't move anymore.

Just another day.

She sighed.

Just another reminder that time waited for no one, stopped for no one no matter how much you might wish for it. It ticked on mercilessly, blink by blink, second by second, leaf by falling leaf.

 _You're being a drama queen,_ she scolded herself.

She cast a last glance at the trees outside and turned her back on the window to check on the surveillance equipment on the coffeetable. All set up and ready to record what would go down in the room next door. Nothing left to do for her until the action started. If it did. Lee's informant had been pretty vague.

She caught herself glancing at her reflection in the mirror on the wall across the room. She couldn't shake the thought that she ought to look different. That something ought to have changed since yesterday. Complete nonsense, of course – people didn't change just like that over night. She looked like always, ice-blue eyes framed with mascara and blue eyeshadow, blond hair back in a loose knot, coral-red lipstick to match her clothes – nothing unusual there.

And yet –

And yet she felt like something ought to be different.

Behind her the door to their room opened, making her turn away from the mirror and back to the surveillance equipment to fiddle with some knobs. Couldn't be caught daydreaming when you were supposed to pay attention, right? Especially not by Lee.

She heard him move across the room and stop behind her. She straightened and turned and found herself almost nose to nose with him. He had that irresistible Stetson smile on his face that had made her fall for him head over heels, once upon a time. He was holding something behind his back.

Francine took a step back and gave him a slight frown.

"What are you up to?" she asked.

"Nothing."  
Lee's smile broadened.

"Oh yes, you are. I know that look. – What are you hiding behind your back?"  
Francine craned her neck to catch a glimpse.

Lee turned so she couldn't.  
"Just a little something", he said.

"A little something."  
Francine snorted.  
"For Randi-baby, I assume. Or who's your girlfriend of the week? Andi? Mandi? Sandi?"

"Actually, it's for you."

Lee brought his left arm to the front with a little flourish to show her his gift: a cupcake with orange frosting made to look like a laughing pumpkin and a single burning candle stuck in the frosting.

"Happy birthday", he said and held it out to her. "Make a wish."

For a moment, Francine was thrown. She hadn't seen that coming – not from Lee. Yes, fine, they _were_ friends and she even _did_ consider him her best friend but remembering birthdays – or gifting anything other than scarves, for that matter – wasn't really his forte. And she didn't really feel like celebrating. Not this year.

Then she was the expectant look on his face and so she obediently closed her eyes for a moment and then blew out the candle. Lee gave her the cupcake. She put it down on the coffeetable, next to the surveillance equipment.

"Aren't you going to eat it?" Lee asked with a slight frown. "It's a chocolate cupcake."

"Later", she told him. "It's too pretty to eat at once."

He nodded.  
"Anything yet?" he asked, turning to the coffeetable.

"No. But they should be here any moment now. If your informant was right."  
She didn't know what else to do so she checked the settings once more. She felt Lee watching her and saw, from the corner of her eye, that he had shoved his hands in his pockets.

"What are you doing here, Francine?"

She blinked, startled.  
"I'm checking –"

"No, I mean: What are you doing _here_?" Lee cut her off. "Today, of all days. Shouldn't you be home and getting ready to go out? Party? Celebrate?"

Francine shook her head.  
"I don't feel much like celebrating this year."

"It's only another year, Francine."  
There was more than just a hint of amusement in Lee's voice.

"It's not just another year!" she protested. "It's – it's another _decade_. As of today I'm officially not in my twenties anymore."  
She looked up to glare at him.

He shrugged.  
"Yes, well, that happens to the best of us. Time doesn't stop just because we want it to."

"I know."  
Francine gave an indignant huff.  
"It sucks."

Lee laughed.  
"The one big universal truth: life sucks."  
He stepped closer and turned serious again. Well, semi-serious.  
"Turning thirty isn't the end of the world, you know? I mean, look at me – it happened to me, too, a few years back, and I'm still around and kicking and doing fine."

"You're a _guy_ ", Francine said.

Lee raised his eyebrows.  
"So?"

"Women age. Men mature", she told him.

"Says who?" he asked.

"Oh, that's just another of those universal truths."  
She wasn't being entirely serious and he must have noticed because he shook his head and grinned.

"Well, let me give you another", he said. "Now that you're looking at thirty from the other side of the fence, let me tell you that your days of partying all night and looking great the next morning are over. Get used to looking into a mirror and finding something that looks like a cross between a zombie and a raccoon stare back at you."

Ths time, Francine laughed.  
"So I'll finally be able to put those mad make-up skills to good use that I've been honing for the past ten, fifteen years? Good."

"Not that you'd need it."  
Lee grinned.  
"Speaking as someone who's seen you without make-up."

Francine snorted.  
"More like speaking as someone who's seen me without pretty much anything."

Lee opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by the sound of the door opening in the adjacent room and voices being picked up by the microphones they had planted there. Two men, talking in Russian.

"Here we go", he murmured and sat down on the couch to pick up the headphones and listen.

Francine turned to the window once more. It was starting to get darker. The sun had started its descent and would soon be gone. And all the witches and monsters and ghouls and ghosties would come out to play and celebrate while she was cooped up in this hotel room with her best friend, listening in on two Russians plotting to take over the world or something. Francine smiled. Sure, there were better ways to spend Halloween – or your birthday – but right now she couldn't imagine any place she'd rather be.


End file.
